Lions Roar Back to Defeat Brevard

MARS HILL, N.C. - After dropping the first two sets, the Mars Hill volleyball team rallied for a 3-2 victory over Brevard on Saturday afternoon in Stanford Arena. The Lions defeated the Tornados 17-25, 14-25, 25-16, 25-21 and 15-13 en route to their third win against league competition in their last four matches. Mars Hill improves to 5-10 on the season and 4-4 in the South Atlantic Conference while Brevard drops to 8-7 and 2-6.

Lauren Hochstetler led the Lions with 16 kills and had 16 digs in the winning effort. Rebecca Butler had 12 kills and a team-high 24 digs, with Mary Kate Griffin also recording 12 kills and 11 digs. Griffin had six aces, with Victoria Kaiser racking up three aces and Andie Russell contributing two aces. Christen Nicholson had 19 digs while Kaiser recorded 13 digs.

Hannah Elmore led the Tornados with 15 digs, followed by Rachel Ruble with 13. Aleksandra Vrvilo was the top defensive player for Brevard with a match-high 31 digs, followed by 16 digs for Taylor VanReenen, 13 for Erin Barr and 12 from Maggie Weiss.

The Tornados hit a match-high .278 to win the first set and took control of the second set after an error gave the Lions a 1-0 lead. Mars Hill responded in the third set, breaking an 11-11 tie with a 10-2 run to pull within a set, 2-1.

The fourth set featured nine ties and five lead changes, the last of which came as a Butler kill broke a 21-21 tie. The Lions would score the final three points to even the match.

In the fifth set, Brevard held an 8-5 advantage but saw Mars Hill pull ahead 11-9 thanks to a Tornado error and four straight kills.  Brevard tied the set at 11 before a Devon Felts kill and a Russell ace gave the Lions a 13-11 lead. A Griffin kill gave the Lions a 14-12 lead but Brevard to pulled to within a point on an Elmore kill. The Lions finished off the match with a Hochstetler kill.

Mars Hill concludes their five-game SAC homestand on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. against Tusculum.